D&D 5E Counterspell nerfed!

[Lyxen]

I have no problem with monsters using exception-based design, but this creates a real problem of narration.

A spellcaster type NPC who has a magical fiery explosion ability feels like they should be vulnerable to counterspell. It fits the tropes of both what the spell does and what the NPC is doing. How do I create a narrative around a spellcaster using an ability that isn't able to be countered? Is it some kind of wand? Is it a subtle spell?

I'm totally on-board with making NPC stat blocks easier to run, but I'm not a fan of creating an environment where only some NPC spellcaster abilities can be countered, and it isn't obvious in the story why some abilities can be countered and some cannot.

And a lot of PC powers cannot be countered either. You cannot counter a bard's inspiration, a cleric's Channel Divinity, a Druid's Wild Shape, although they resemble some spells...

 

[billd91]

For me, it's not a question of power level, or "just use this counter". It's more that Counterspell is fundamentally something that exists in order to cause cool things to not happen. It's all the fun of playing against a "you don't get to play the game" blue deck in magic.

Except that the counterspell is the cool thing that happens, from the player perspective when they're the ones doing the counterspelling. And if you don't think players don't find it cool to counterspell, all I can say is check out Critical Role's first campaign. In it, Scanlan throws some absolutely clutch counterspells that sends the table into an uproar.

 

[billd91]

They will be minor changes to some but i don't expect all the spellcasting monsters and NPC of the game to receive errata to include many additional actions that mimic spells and modify their spellcasting features to remove them.

Yes Counterspell will see less uses with some enemies, but not that much.

One hopes. But WotC has engaged in feature creep with revisions before (cough 3.5 cough). So I'm a bit wary.

 

[el-remmen]

This is esp. frustrating to someone like me who has never found a list of spells a monster/opponent can cast like PCs do to be esp. difficult to deal with.

 

[Maxperson]

There are no dumb spellcasters. They are going to take some kind of countermeasure, such as having minions, or avoid the fight entirely.

Because they will always be able to cast spells out of sight or farther than 60 feet. So I guess now I have to design all indoor rooms that have spellcasters to be 125 feet or longer in all directions so that they can always be farther than 60 feet from an opponent.

 

[TwoSix]

And a lot of PC powers cannot be countered either. You cannot counter a bard's inspiration, a cleric's Channel Divinity, a Druid's Wild Shape, although they resemble some spells...

Sure, but do you think those feel like spells in the same way a fiery explosion does? Blasty evocations are the purest expression of what defines a spell in D&D style fiction.

 

[Lyxen]

One hopes. But WotC has engaged in feature creep with revisions before (cough 3.5 cough). So I'm a bit wary.

They have been very careful in 5e, though, so one might hope that they have learned their lesson here. The power creep has really been minimal so far.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I have no problem with monsters using exception-based design, but this creates a real problem of narration.

A spellcaster type NPC who has a magical fiery explosion ability feels like they should be vulnerable to counterspell. It fits the tropes of both what the spell does and what the NPC is doing. How do I create a narrative around a spellcaster using an ability that isn't able to be countered? Is it some kind of wand? Is it a subtle spell?

I'm totally on-board with making NPC stat blocks easier to run, but I'm not a fan of creating an environment where only some NPC spellcaster abilities can be countered, and it isn't obvious in the story why some abilities can be countered and some cannot.

Then counterspell them. If it quacks like a spell it is a spell. Narrate it as such. Level it by damage die.

 

[J-H]

This looks easy to adjudicate at the table.
It's another strike on WOTC's editing/"thinking things through" skills.
I probably won't be buying many/any of the forthcoming books.

 

[TwoSix]

Then counterspell them. If it quacks like a spell it is a spell. Narrate it as such. Level it by damage die.

Which is what I'll do, of course. But I'm not a fan of the design considerations that would lead them to make such a change so hastily.